Cairo, the 6th July, 2009

"Food for the soul...feeling GRATEFUL and BRAVE...those are the main keys to my - our - home..."

"When your eyes are tired

the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love...

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness

to learn

anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you."

David Whyte, from "Sweet Darkness"

These are photos of moments (during shows) where I was totally grateful for the life I live. You can see it in my face showing the obvious pleasure of being an artist and fly with the stars through what other people perceive as my profession. Beyond all misconceptions - and conceptions - of Oriental Dance, much beyond the price I already had to pay for being a dancer there's something huge, bigger than our small minds and what they're able to cathalog in their endless arrogance.

These moments were moments of true happiness and BLISS.

These moments were repeated, in different ways, in the arms of men I have loved, within the kisses of the love - THE ONE - of my life, during my walks with my mum and our dogs, while surrounded by my best friends, while listening to the sea or watching children play. For this kind of happiness - the only one that counts for me! - I am grateful.